AT&T sets recycling Guinness World Record

AT&T customers recycled 50,942 devices in a single week, setting a new Guinness World Record.

America Recycles Day (ARD) isn’t until Thursday, November 15 but thousands of AT&T customers are already in the spirit. Over the course of a single week in September 2012, AT&T customers recycled 50,942 phones, setting a new Guinness World Record for recycling wireless devices.

By recycling more than 50,000 mobile devices, AT&T customers avoided sending about 25,000 pounds of waste to landfills.

“We know we have the greatest customers in the world and now we have a world record certified by Guinness World Records to prove it,” said Jeff Bradley, Senior Vice President, Devices, AT&T Mobility. “At the same time, we also know that there are millions of wireless devices in people’s homes that are not being recycled, so it is our goal that one day all wireless customers will trade in or recycle their wireless devices when they buy new ones.” Source: AT&T

Customers in Texas recycled more than 10 percent of the phones that were used to set the new Guinness World Record but the store that contributed the most devices is located in Virginia. The Chippenham store in Richmond donated 108 devices to the record setting event.

Top 5 States

Texas – 5,879 phones recycled (12.4 percent)

California -4,916 phones recycled (10.4 percent)

Florida – 3,085 phones recycled (7 percent)

Pennsylvania – 2,033 phones recycled (4 percent)

New York – 2,016 phones recycled (4 percent)

I have to admit, I was a bit surprised that there was a Guinness World Record for wireless device recycling but evidently there are many more recycling-related world records.

Other recycling world records include:

Most steel cans collected in one month – 2,656,284 cans collected in October 2010 in South Africa as part of the Collect-a-Can event.

Habitat for Humanity of Evansville, Indiana collected 152,800 pounds of aluminum cans over an eight-hour period on July 6, 2003.

Portugal’s Multi Mall Management collected 117,376 items of clothing to be recycled during an event held on January 4, 2012.

These aren’t even all of the Guinness World Records for recycling. There’s nothing better than a little friendly record-setting competition to encourage recycling.

What will you be doing to promote recycling on America Recycles Day this Thursday?